In recent years, large deposits of hydrocarbons have been discovered at offshore locations in arctic areas of the world. In such locations, it is impractical to lay a pipeline to the production site to transport the produced hydrocarbons. Accordingly, the hydrocarbons normally have to be stored at the production site and then offloaded onto tanker ships for transport.
The tankers are normally loaded while they are moored to a terminal facility (e.g., a single leg moor) which is positioned in open water so that the tanker is free to "weathervane" about the terminal with the change in current. As known, most waters in these arctic areas either freeze or have pack ice and/or ice floes therein during the extreme cold period of the year. This makes the offloading onto tankers during this period extremely hazardous if possible at all. That is, a tanker may be frozen into the ice mass while it is moored to the terminal or it may be crushed or otherwise damaged by moving ice in the area.
Since the storage capacity at an offshore production facility is limited, the inability to offload produced hydrocarbons during the extended period of ice formation will usually require that the production be shut in for a like period. As can be imagined, this interruption of production is extremely costly and, in some instances, may adversely affect the overall performance of the field. Accordingly, a need exists for a production and offloading facility for arctic locations which can operate year around in all ambient conditions, including freezing conditions where ice is present at said facility.